The Librarian
by Artdirector123
Summary: Part of my Big Brother William AU where in the 2003 Anime, Hohenheim didn't leave Envy to Dante. While trying to help his younger brothers be able to pass the State Alchemists Exam, William runs into very interesting young woman in the national library.


William stared up at the pillars of bookshelves before him as he wandered through the library. He had managed to sneak in after "borrowing" Roy's watch to check out some books in his name. If his brothers were going to pass the State Alchemist's Exam, they were going to need the best material possible. Although he would still call himself a genius at the art, he had to admit, his knowledge on the subject was technically dated, despite him knowing secrets to alchemy that almost no one else knew. Unfortunately, ancient, revolutionary knowledge wouldn't be relevant to the exam. He'd need some more recent publications. So here he now was, perusing Central Library.

As he did so, he kept finding himself getting lost. Where was that damn alchemy system. He cursed himself. Despite the fact that he literally had all the time in the world to do so, he never took the time to learn the dewey decimal system. Did this library even run on that system? To be completely honest, he had no clue. All that he did know is that he had no hope of figuring out right now on his own. He sighed as he scratched the back of his head. Looked like he was going to need to ask for some help. His shoulders slumped as he went on the search for a librarian.

He looked around for a good ten minutes before he found another person. He saw a young woman with brown hair and glasses standing on a rolling ladder, holding a book in one hand and gripping the ladder with the other. On the step of the ladder next to her head, there was a large stack of books balanced precariously, but she seemed too absorbed in her book to care. William raised an eyebrow at her. It looked like she had been putting away the books before stopping to read one. Was she allowed to do that?

"Um...Hello?"he called, "Do you work here or-"

"AAH!"the girl suddenly yelped in surprise, losing balance, "I WASN'T SLACKING OFF I SWEAR! WOAH!" The girl wobbled on the ladder before dropping her book and desperately grabbing for the ladder to regain balance. In doing so, she managed to knock the large stack of precariously placed books off the ladder...right onto William.

The homunculus's eyes widened as the heavy volumes tumbled through the air down upon him. He barely had time to curse before they toppled onto him, forcing him to the ground beneath the weight of their paged. William groaned in pain as he felt two cracked ribs and an oncoming concussion from the tomes' attack.

The girl looked around for a moment, realizing with confusion her boss wasn't there. She adjusted her glasses and looked down on Will before she slapped a hand over her mouth and squeaked in horror. "Oh God! Ohgod!Ohgod!Ohgod!Ohgod!Ohgod!"she muttered fearfully as she swiftly climbed down the ladder and scrambled over to him, "I am so, so, SO sorry! I am so clumsy, please forgive me! Are you alright?! Can you breath?! Hello!" She began pushing the books off of him. William blinked as she saw her looking down on him with worry. He was glad she had missed the healing process. He didn't want to have to explain what the red lightning was or have to knock her out over it. Granted, it wouldn't have been his fault if she had. She was the one who had knocked them over onto him. If he hadn't been there, she would have probably hurt herself or someone else on accident. Surprisingly, however, he wasn't mad at her. Granted, it was mostly because he was still too shocked to, but still.

"Sir, are you alright?"the girl repeated dragging him from his thoughts, "Is your head ok? Oh no, I didn't give you a concussion, did I?" She bit her lip in worry before continuing to apologize to him and asking him how he was doing. William just blinked at her. He was drawing a blank on how to respond, not that he could have gotten a word in edgewise. For some reason he had a different strange thought running through his head: for some reason this girl's panicking was kinda adorable and he had no idea why.

"Here, let me check," she said, moving to force his eye open more, "I read about this in a book once and-"

"HEY!" William snapped, suddenly jerking upwards as she tried to push back his eyelids. She had leaned in close to him to get a better look, so when he did so, he accidentally ended up butting heads with her. The girl yelped in pain and lept back while William groaned and cursed while he rubbed his head.

"Hey, what was that for?!"she responded.

"Excuse me! You were trying to force my eye open! What did you expect me to do?" William snapped in response.

"I was just trying to help!"she defended, "You could have a concussion for all you know! I was just checking to make sure you were ok."

"Well I appreciate that, but I assure you I'm fine," William said, moving to get up.

"You don't know that!" Sheska said, putting her hands on her hips, "Just because you feel fine, doesn't mean you are fine. You know, concussions don't always come with a headache." She then grabbed his arm. "Come on! We should go get you to a doctor of some kind to be sure," she reasoned trying to drag him along.

William swallowed. Crap. He couldn't go see a doctor! They wouldn't find any injuries but they would surely find something else wrong with him, like the fact that his body temperature is much colder than the average human. "NO!" he cried, jerking away, "Uh...I mean...That's really unnecessary, and I really don't have the time. Look, why don't you just check to make sure I'm alright, huh? You said you could."

Sheska relaxed her grip before nodding. She then set him down and went through all the typical procedures for checking for a concussion. She checked the dilation of his eyes, made sure his vision wasn't blurry, and so on. William went through the motions with her. Of course she hadn't found anything. William had healed any damage that may have happened the minute he felt a headache coming on. "Alright, it seems you're fine," she said, "It's strange. I didn't even find any bruising…"

He shrugged. "I guess I'm just lucky," he said before smirking, "either that, or I gut have a really thick skull."

She snorted in amusement at that. "Well I wouldn't say that," she said, "You wouldn't be here otherwise. After all, only state alchemists and high ranking officers are allowed to just wander around in here. Everyone else has to wait behind the desk."

William raised an eyebrow. "So are you a state alchemist then?"he asked, "You look a little young to have a high ranking position otherwise."

She laughed at that. "Oh no! I'm no alchemist," she said, "I just work here."

"Really?"he asked, "Do they allow you to read on the job here?"

The girl paused and flushed in embarrassment. "Ehehehe….No," she said scratching the back of her head, "But I just can't stop! I love books…always have. History, Fiction, poetry, science...They're all just so good!" She practically squealed the last portion before remembering herself. "S-sorry...Please don't tell my supervisor I was getting distracted."

William chuckled. "Your secret's safe with me," he said, "Now, out of curiosity, would you be willing to help me find the Alchemy section?"

"Oh sure! Of course!"she said before starting to run off, "It's right this way!" He followed after her down the aisle. They walked for a few minutes with her chatting away at the selection available in the section. William was impressed by her knowledge. For someone who wasn't an alchemist, she certainly knew a lot about the subject. "Are you sure you're not an alchemist?"he questioned.

"No...I've just read quite a few books in the section…" she said, "It's interesting but I could never practice the art if I wanted. I can't draw a stick figure to save my life!"

"That's too bad," William said with a shrug, "You'd probably be really good at it. You could probably pass the state alchemist's exam if you tried." He was being honest. She was clearly very intelligent. Infact, aside from members of his own family, she was probably the smartest person he'd met so far. Well, who was still alive anyways. She was no Galileo or Newton, but then again, he had only just met her. She could prove him wrong.

The girl paused in surprise while she pulling out books for him. No one had ever said something like that to her before, well aside from her family. "Oh, who me?"she quiped, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face, slightly embarrassed, "Oh no. Thank you, but I'm not that clever. I'm just really good at memorizing things. I would be able to keep track of all the equations…"

William shrugged. "You never know," he responded, "Don't sell yourself short. You have quite an amazing mind."

She finished pulling out books and walked up to him, smiling warmly at his words and blushing slightly. "Well, that's very kind of you to say," she said behind the large stack of heavy tomes, "Here. Be careful! They're quite-" She cut herself off as William easily lifted the giant stack effortlessly. "...Heavy…" she finished.

William smirked. "I think I can handle it," he said, "This will do for now. Thanks for your help. What's your name?"

"Oh! Sheska," she said, holding her hand out, "My name is Sheska."

William stared at the hand for a few seconds before gesturing to the stack of books, causing her to immediately retract it and apologize.

He chuckled at that. "It's fine. Everyone makes mistakes," he said, "The name's William. I'll probably be back in a few days, so I'll see you around ok? Thanks again." He turned to leave.

"You're welcome!" she chirped back, "Have a nice day, Sir!" She smiled as she watched him leave. She didn't know why, but she really hoped she would get to see him again. He seemed nice, if a bit strange.


End file.
